


One Word, Three Ways

by kay_emm_gee



Series: the kids aren't alright (The 100 tumblr prompts) [44]
Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-02
Updated: 2015-10-02
Packaged: 2018-04-24 09:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4914616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kay_emm_gee/pseuds/kay_emm_gee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Slight Ark!AU - Like Finn, Miller has visitation rights from family in the Skybox.</p>
<p>Summary: Three times Miller associates the same word with his father, and only the last time he feels that he actually believes it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Word, Three Ways

He should’ve known when the guard came for him, that it would be for this. No one ever was taken out of the Skybox except to visit family.

As he was wrangled into the antechamber, Nathan saw his father through the tiny window in the door, seated at the metal table in the visiting room. His heart plummeted, and he jerked his gaze away.

“Fucking hell,” he seethed, stopping short.

“Prisoner 279, keep walking,” the guard clutching his right arm barked.

With a scowl, Nathan jerked his arm away, adrenaline coursing through him, but the guard’s firm grip only grew tighter.

“You can’t make me go in there,” he spat out, locking his knees, not daring to look through the window again. His stomach was nauseous enough at the glimpse he had gotten. 

“The sergeant was granted special permission for this,” the guard growled as he tried to pull him forward. “So you’re going to get a visit. Most kids would be over the moon.”

Nathan fisted his hands, his throat closing up. Most kids would be happy about this, but most kids weren’t the son of a single dad, a man trying to rise up in the ranks, who had only ever wanted to be a good guard and to have a good son. Instead, he had a son who had gotten arrested, not doubt tanking any chance he had at a promotion. Most kids would have to face worried parents, concerned parents–he guessed all that waited for him in that room was disappointment and anger, and the thought made him sick. He wasn’t ready to face his dad and all that now stood between them, not yet. 

So he struggled harder, and the guard swore. The muffled sound of a chair scraping, being pushed back–his father was coming–echoed from behind the door, and Nathan panicked, finally wrenching free. He ran, skidding down the hall back towards the Skybox as angry shouts followed him.

Still, even over the din, he heard the familiar voice–the one that used to sing him to sleep, that used to laugh with him, that used to boast of his success in school–saying, sadly, “It’s alright. It’s alright. Let him go.”

* * *

_It’s alright._

The dropship creaked ominously, shuddering and jolting as they tumbled through the layers of Earth’s atmosphere. Nathan grinned to hide his terror, squeezing his eyes shut to hide his tears. 

_It’s alright._

His fellow prisoners were yelling, either in excitement or fear, but instead he listened to the voice in his head, the sound of his father saying:  _it’s alright._

_It’s alright, Nathan. You’re going to be alright._

He held on to that as they fell, the last words his father spoke to him, and he wished, just for a moment, that he had not run, that he had had the courage to face his dad, one last time.

* * *

Despite the sun beating down on them as they walked away from Mt. Weather, Nathan shivered. The chill of the mountain didn’t want to leave him–maybe it never would, he feared.

Warmth enveloped him, and he registered the jacket now slung across his shoulders.

“Are you okay?” His father asked, pulling him into his side.

Swallowing, Nathan looked up into the eyes of his father–warm and worried and just like his, eyes without a trace of shame, eyes that still held the light of the living–and his fear of what lay ahead retreated. “I’m alright,” he choked out. “I’m alright.”

And it was true. He was alright, or at least he would be.

He was with his dad, and that was all that mattered. 

**Author's Note:**

> The Millers are the best.
> 
> Come find me on tumblr (kay-emm-gee)!


End file.
